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Despite Hurricane Sandy making her steady approach over the weekend, the Hoyas competed at the Princeton Chase on Carnegie Lake this past Sunday, competing against 17 teams over three miles. The day was chilly and cloudy with a stiff 15-20mph tailwind. The Hoyas had come off of a solid week of training and the team was glad the storm held off until they had competed and returned safely to DC.

“Each race is an opportunity for us to take the next step,” said Head Coach Miranda Paris. “We continue to build momentum. Today we learned a lot about feeling the boat and our rhythm in some faster and more challenging conditions—that’s not an opportunity we’ve had yet this fall on the Potomac. It’s been almost too calm, in my opinion, so it’s been fun to race in Boston and Princeton in trickier conditions and learn from them.”

The Hoyas competed in the Varsity Eight, finishing 24th of 55 crews. Virginia won the race in 13:41.4. Georgetown clocked the course in 14:54.6. “This race marked a huge improvement over last year, both in terms of placement and performance, relative to ourselves and also to other teams. For example, we were over two minutes slower than the winning time last year, finishing 34th. We’ve cut that margin in half this year. Obviously, we aren’t satisfied with that and want to continue to improve, but the team’s consistency and steady progress gives us confidence that it’s only a matter of time.”

Sophomore five-seat Laura Collins remarked, “It is evident [to our entire team] that we are always continuing to make progress in our technique, fitness and racing mentality. It’s exciting to think of the impact this will have on our spring racing season.” Varsity coxswain Devon O’Brien added, “I’m so happy with where we are this year and how consistent our improvement is. I look forward to practice every day. It sounds simple, but we’re having fun. The coaches and the athletes put in a lot of effort and the positive mentality is contagious.”

The Hoya Lightweights also contested the Varsity Eight, finishing 37th in a time of 15:21.7. “There were some very good things that came out of this race: some very valuable insights into our strengths and weaknesses as a team,” said Varsity Lightweight Coach Jimmy Newcombe. “That said, the final result was not satisfying, but we have some very clear goals to which we can direct our training.”

The lightweights and openweights also raced in the Varsity Four, finishing 26th and 35th, respectively, of 38 crews in 17:35.9.

The Hoyas will close our their fall season at the Head of the Occoquan this Saturday, November 3, conditions permitting. You can follow their results on Twitter @HoyaRowing.